Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Kalanchoe blossfeldiana cultivar Krystle.
The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Kalanchoe plant, botanically known as Kalanchoe blossfeldiana, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Krystlexe2x80x99.
The new Kalanchoe is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Hinnerup, Denmark. The objective of the breeding program was to create new freely-flowering Kalanchoe cultivars with compact plant habit and excellent postproduction longevity.
The new Kalanchoe is a naturally-occurring whole plant mutation of the Kalanchoe blossfeldiana cultivar Simone 2000, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 12,319. The cultivar Krystle was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within a population of plants of the cultivar Simone 2000 in a controlled environment in Hinnerup, Denmark.
Asexual reproduction of the new Kalanchoe by terminal cuttings taken at Hinnerup, Denmark, by the Inventor, has shown that the unique features of this new Kalanchoe are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The cultivar Krystle has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, daylength and light intensity, without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Krystlexe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Krystlexe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Upright and compact plant habit.
2. Dark green-colored leaves.
3. Large white-colored flowers with serrated petal margins.
4. Excellent postproduction longevity.
Plants of the new Kalanchoe are most similar to plants of the parent cultivar, Simone 2000; however in side-by-side comparisons conducted in Hinnerup, Denmark, plants of the new Kalanchoe and differed primarily from plants of the cultivar Simone 2000 in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Kalanchoe were more compact than plants of the cultivar Simone 2000.
2. Plants of the new Kalanchoe had serrated petal margins whereas plants of the cultivar Simone 2000 had entire petal margins.